Hamptons Officials Consider Painting Roads Green

Authorities are now considering another new proposal in response to the growing problem of local people accidentally driving their vehicles off the road and into the water.

A previous proposal seeking to dye Peconic Bay a bright color (orange is the current choice – see image below) in order to warn errant motorists they are about to drive into the water—has already reached the planning stage, though color choice is still up for debate. But the proposal just put forward suggests area roads themselves should be painted in bright colors, to contrast with the water, so drivers will be better able to make out the indistinguishable differences between dark road surfaces and open water.

Peconic Bay dyed orange, Photo: Oliver Peterson

The Hamptons Municipal Board appears to be faced with a choice: dye the water a bright color, or paint the roads a bright color. Both options will result in the same effect, but accomplishing each has merits and pitfalls.

Randy Pfluger, president of Peconic Dye Job, a group advocating for the existing proposal to dye the bay, is enthusiastic about the idea of painting the roads. “I think, and I believe the authorities will agree, we should be looking at a both/and scenario, rather than an either/or scenario,” Pfluger says. “Say we dye the bay orange and we paint the roads bright green. No one will then be able to miss where the road ends and the water begins.”